Hiram c



(No Model.)

6 H. 0. GILMAN.

SEGTIONAL ROLL FOR COTTON OPENERS.

No. 266,986. Patented Nov. '7, 1882.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HIRAM o. GILMAN, oE LOWELL, MAssAoEUsErrs, Ass'ienon ToALFEEo CLARKE ANDHAVEN o. PEREIAM, F sAME rLAoE.

SECTIONAL ROLL FOR COTTON-OPENERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 266,986, dated November7, 1882.

Application filed May 23, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HIEAM G. GILMAN, ofLowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented a new and useful Sectional Roll for Cotton-Openers, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to sectional rolls such as thosedescribedinPatentNo.245,609, issued in position.

to Altred Clarke and H. U. Perham on the 16th day of August, 1881; andits objects are to'prevent any of the sections from slipping when abunch or hard lump is approaching the nip of the rolls, and to drive theseparate sections positively with a surface speed exactly equal to thatof the lower feed roll or rolls when in use, as described in saidpatent. l accomplish these objects by the mechanism illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a sectional roll, partly insection, provided with my improvements. Fig. 2 is an end elevation ofone of the sections.

A A are the sections of the roll.

B is a short shaft placed in a hearing in the frame of the machine(described in said patent) axial with the sectional roll. This shaft isprovided with a gear, I), which, when the shaft is placed in themachine, engages with the gear of the lower feed roll or rolls, so thatit moves with them. This shaft extends only through the frame and abutsagainst the sectional roll, and is provided upon its inner end with ahemispherical socket, 0, having a pin, (1, passing through it centrally.Into this socket the ball E is inserted. This ball is provided with anopening, 0, into which the pin 11 fits, and prevents the ball fromrotating in the socket, while permitting other movements.

Attached to the ball E by a neck, g, is the ball F, which fits into thebase of the section A, and is prevented from rotating therein by the pina, which passes through an opening, 0, as already described, in ball E.The openings e in ballsE and F, through which the pins (1 in the shaftand a in the roll pass, are at right angles to each other, so that auniversaljoint is formed, which permits the section A to rise and fallwhile the shaft B remains The section A is connected to and driven bythe section A by the balls E and F, connected by the neck g, made likethe balls E and F,already described, the openings 0, through which thepins a pass, being in all cases placed at right angles to each other inthe connected balls. The openings in the balls are given a curvedbottom, as shown in the drawings by dotted lines, so as to preventbinding against the bore and pin as one section rises or fallsindependently of the other.

Each of the other sections of the rollare connected together and drivenas are those described. In Fig. 2 the pins (1. a are shown as they wouldappear looking into the end of one of the sections.

It is obvious that the connecting parts need 6 not be made exactly inthe form shown-ball and socket-but can be made as connected yokes or Tsplaced at right angles in the well-known universal-joint manner.

It is also obvious thatit may not in allcases be found necessary toprovide the shaft B with ball-and-socket joint, because if the sectionalroll he composed of many sections it is unlikely that all the sectionswillbe broughtinto contact with lumps which will cause them to slip atthe same time. Hence ifthe sections are connected as I have describedthose moving over the smoother parts of the sheet of fiber passing tothe beater will have sufficient traction to drive those against whichlumps may have come into contact and which might tend to slip or standstill. tended to be applied to breaker-openers, or those used to openthe cotton when first taken from the bale, in which lumps of differentdegrees ofhardness are to be found, and in which there are sometimessmall nubs very hardly compacted together. When the divided upper rollis driven only by the friction of the lower one, exerted through theintervening 9o This invention is iny giving stead of breaking or tearingit and stopping the feed to the beater at that point. In theconstruction I have shown it is evident that the sections of the dividedroll nearest the shaft B serve themselves to couple the more remotesections to the driving-shaft, and while acting as sections they alsoform the connecting driving-links of the remoter sections.

hat I claim as new and of my invention 1s,

1. A sectional roll for a cotton-opener, having its sections connectedtogether by universaljoints, substantially as described.

2. A sectional roll for a cotton-opener, pro

vided with-universal jointsconnectingits several sections, and with auniversaljointconnecting'it with a driven shaft, whereby the roll isdriven positively by the shaft, substantially as described.

3. A sectional roll for cotton-openers, provided with a driving-shaft,and having each of its sections connected thereto by one or morecouplings, substantially as described.

HIRAhI U. GILMAN.

Vitnesses LEPINE 0. RICE, HAVEN G. PERHAM.

